What if!
by PattyPotter91
Summary: What if Max and Iago hadn't fled to Mozambique together? What if Iago had served his prison time while Max was working in Africa? Would they be forever seperated or would they find their way back to each other? Post El cor fic...


**There is not a lot of pairings that I ship. Max/Iago has been my favourite couple for almost ten years! It is a pity that so little people know about chemistry between the actors is amazing and the story is somehow different because it is not a coming out story. They are just two people in love. That is what is so special about them to me. Anyway, my friend from America wrote this story (she has a lot more!) about M/I and I promised her to post it here since she doesn't have an account.**

 **Let's see how many IagoMax addicts are still out there. Hope you enjoy the story! A review is of course very welcomed! :)**

 _Max unlocks the door and walks into his apartment. He is coming off a shift at the hospital. He had been working almost twelve hours, he locks the door behind him. There is a table off the door with a pile of his mail. He hasn't had time to look at it. He'd been working 12 hour shifts for about a week. They had been getting swamped. He'd come home eat, sleep and then wake up for another shift at the hospital. He would put his mail down after getting in but wouldn't have time to go through it. He has a minute now. He starts sifting through the envelopes. Most of it junk. He feels like he isn't alone. His hand work slows, he dares to turn around. He does slowly. He sees his bed and the chair next to it. He uses the chair to tie his shoes in the morning, the bed is too low to the ground for him to tie them and get up after. The chair isn't empty. Slight panic moves through Max. There is a man sitting in it, kinda hunched over. Blue jeans, T-shirt, tennis shoes. Max is about to tell whoever it is to take whatever they want, he doesn't have much they would want. The hospital kept him from doing too much outside of grocery shopping. He is about to say it when he sees the bag next to the chair. It is bigger than a grocery bag. It is a duffel bag. A dark one, the sides are expanded out. The man starts to move, sits up in the chair. He has long hair and brown eyes. Max's breathe catches in his throat. He knows those eyes. It had been some time since he'd seen them. It doesn't matter, they sent the same thrill through him as the last time he'd seen them. He feels like he is frozen in place. In his panic, Max's hands had grabbed the edge of the table._

 _A calm on the man's face. His hair long, face shaven and a hint of a smile on his lips, Max's heart skips as he sees it. The last time he saw him, he was being taken to a jail cell. He remembers how he felt, seeing this man he knew so well, man he'd fallen in love with being taken away, like a criminal. It's not how Max had seen him. He had seen a man who hated where he was headed, had been worried about it, scared even and now he'd had no choice but do his time. This span of time that felt like an eternity to him. He remembers those eyes looking at him as they took him away. Eyes scared but had been filled with love. That image haunted Max until he left for Mozambique but even work couldn't get the image out. Max had respected Iago's wish of having moved on as much as he had wanted to be there for him, he kept his distance. Iago had been leaning on Beni and Gonzalo. Beni was as good as anyone to have in his corner. He knew Iago's past like Max did. He had not talked to Beni in a while. By the looks of the duffle bag, him and Gonzalo weren't doing so good. Max's body had relaxed slightly, his hands releasing the table but he was still frozen in place. He rises from the chair and starts to walk towards Max. Has it really been 3 years? He remembers when he'd heard the sentence, he was dumbstruck by it. He was getting 3 years for something he had done years ago? It didn't seem right. He had worked to get his life on track and he was still doing it when Max had seen him. Had it been 3 years? He asks himself._

 _His heart racing as he comes closer to Max, his face becomes more defined. He has hardly changed, looks a little older but Max probably does too. He stops a couple inches in front Max. Max hadn't realized he has taken a step forward. Max's heart stops beating as sees his face. It was him, those eyes, that face. It was Iago. Standing in front of him. Max doesn't know what to do other than feel shock. Much like the first time Iago had kissed him. He didn't know how to react then either. Iago comes closer, he can feel the heat from Iago's body. Iago reaches forward, his hands touch Max's waist. He is really here. For a minute he thought it was his imagination. Iago's fingers cause Max's skin to heat up. Max looks into those eyes, his mind is almost shutting down. Iago knew he needed to prove this is real. That he is really here. Iago knew what he needed to do. Something only Iago would know. Max's arms fly around Iago's neck. Max's eyes squeeze shut. He can feel Iago's arms around him. Iago is really here. He can feel Iago's arms move up and down his back. He has so many questions. He can't believe It. He starts to pull back, his mind trying to wrap around this._

 _"How did you get in?" It's a little late for the question he realizes. "Your landlord. I told him I was a friend of yours." If the landlord only knew what kind of friend. "I would ask how you knew where I live." But Max already knew the answer. Beni. He had visited Iago a few times. Iago smiles a little. He leans into Max, Max takes a step back. It is a reminder of the days when they first started. He wants to kiss Iago, he just isn't sure he knows how anymore. "I'm sorry." Iago apologizes taking a step back. Max has known Iago to hardly apologize "You have a life here, Max." He never thought he would hear Iago say his name again. Max feels pain. Iago thinks Max has someone in his life. It hurt Iago to think it, to even say it. Iago looks at him, features calm. He feels awkward in front of Iago but a feeling he hasn't had in a long time is in the front of his mind. He feels naked. Since the night at the kiosk it felt like Iago saw him, could see everything. He looks at Iago. Iago knows him. Knows him in a way nobody ever has. "Iago," saying his name, it feels like it did so long ago. "I've been working in a hospital since I first arrived here years ago." Max eats, sleeps and breathes it. Iago knew how important school had been to him. He also knew how important doing this kind of work was. "When you would sit and study, you had this focus." Iago was fascinated by it. How Max could just sit with his books, reading, taking in what they had. Max could remember Iago watching him. He knew Iago wondered how he did it. How he could stay so focused, be so concentrated. But then Iago knew why, Max loved it. It was one of the things Iago loved about Max, how dedicated he was to it. "You still do." Iago guesses its where he was coming from. Max had started taking a change of clothes with him to the hospital. T-shirt and jeans with tennis shoes. He didn't like going everywhere with his hospital uniform on. Iago's comment makes Max smile. Max is trying to remember the last time he did._

 _"Even studying you somehow managed to date." Iago is asking Max if was dating. Max knew Iago would be supportive of it if he has been. He had wanted the best for Max, he always has. "When was the last time you went on a date?" Iago thought Max didn't want to tell him. He thought Max is afraid of hurting him. Iago was trying to sound like a friend but he heard the reluctance in his voice. Reluctant in wanting to know if Max is dating, seeing someone. He looks in Iago's eyes. "Before I left for Mozambique the first time." Iago's eyes grow bigger. Iago had dated in the time Max had been away, Max didn't blame him. He had been so busy with work in Mozambique. He didn't want to mess up the life Iago had for himself. And Max knew he had caused Iago enough pain, he didn't want to cause him anymore. He respected him enough to keep his distance. It's not that Max didn't want to date, he had been really busy but he didn't because he couldn't. He couldn't even think about it. When he thought of dating, Iago was the one he saw. Iago moves closer to him, places his hands on Max's waist, he feels heat on his skin where Iago's hands are. He sees it in Iago's eyes. They burn. Max's hands rest on Iago's forearms. Max has a small worry, what if he's forgotten how to kiss him, what if he's forgotten how to be with him, forgotten how to make love to him? Iago leans in, touching his lips to Max's. Max feels his react, he feels Iago's move, his moves with Iago's. He feels his hands move, they have left Iago. He feels something under his palms, under his fingers, it is Iago. It is Max's body as it is taking over, his body remembers. The memories of what it had been like to kiss Iago, to be close to him, to touch him, they all came flooding back. It clicks for Max just like it had years ago. His lips, his hands they are moving with him now. Iago's fingers move around Max's waist, pulls Max closer to him, Iago kisses with desire. Max remembers the first kiss between them, how it had followed him for days. He had realized back then it hadn't been the kiss at all, it had been Iago himself. Iago had gotten under his skin, it didn't settle after they had been together at the kiosk, it had gone deeper inside him. He can feel it now. Max had accepted he might never see Iago again, living his days in Mozambique. This, now is for both of them. Max feels Iago's fingers slip under his shirt, his hands sliding slowly along Max's back. Max's body heats up. The kiss stops, Max has become breathless. Iago's hands aren't just touching him, they are feeling him. Feeling the changes Max's body has made. His hands curving along his sides, he could feel the lines, the muscle as Iago's hands move , Iago's touch making him aware of them. His fingers on Max's chest. Max moves his hands to his shirt, pulls it over his head, releases it to the floor. Iago eyes take it in. This new image, this new body, muscle where there had never been before. It's all coming to the same result. It is still Max._

 _Max's hands move to Iago's shirt, pulls it off. Skin against skin, Iago is breathless, pulling each other in for another kiss. Passion consumes Max the way it only has with Iago. Iago's hands roam Max's body, his thumbs go over Max's nipples, Max moans into the kiss, his arms move around Iago's neck. Iago picks up Max's legs, Max automatically wraps them around Iago. Iago and Max's lips stay together as Iago walks across the floor of Max's apartment, Iago's arms around Max as he does. Max feels Iago bend down. Iago's arms retract as Max feels the sheets to the bed under him. Iago's lips almost devouring his. He couldn't believe he was questioning it before. It is as easy as breathing, just like it always had been. Iago breaks the kiss, touching his lips to Max's neck. Max can't breathe. He can feel Iago almost sucking a mark there. He moans again, his body humming as Iago's lips are devouring his neck, driving him crazy. His hands roam Iago's body. Iago is bigger, he had always been bigger than Max, Max never cared. Max's hands roam down to Iago's jeans, undoing the button, fingers find the zipper and pull it down. Iago pulls back, moves to Max's lips for a second before he pulls back. He stands up, pulls his jeans off. Max works undoing his button and zipper, slides his jeans down, casts them to the side. Iago moves down, he moves up to Max's chest. Max feels Iago at his entrance. Max looks in Iago's eyes, they aren't seeking permission or stopping to make sure this is something they both want. It is far passed both of those. It is having a hunger for each other that has been there for 4 years. Max feels Iago push passed his entrance. He gasps, it has been a while for him but it isn't the whole reason. He had this feeling, sensation at this point each time him and Iago were together. It isn't pain, it never was, not even when they had their first time together. It was a pleasure, one his whole body felt for a solid second. Max doesn't know why it surprised him every time but it did. He had felt it that night at the kiosk. He didn't know what it was then, when he found out it scared the crap out of him. He wasn't supposed to feel something like that. No way, no way was he capable of feeling something like that. But then it happened again in the car. He remembered thinking it had not happened with anyone else, except Iago. When he was with Iago it was like an electric jolt through his body. He can feel it now as Iago moves closer to him, as he moves farther up. Bodies starting to move. His hands on Iago's arms. Iago bends down to Max's lips. Max's hands move up Iago's arms, to his neck, lips become more urgent. Iago breaks the kiss, moves to the right side of Max's neck, his neck goes back as he feels them. Desire. Max feels nothing but desire in it. Iago pulls back, Max looks in those eyes._

 _Max pushes off with his back, rolls them. Every memory of them being together goes through Max's mind, the urgency, the hunger for each other somehow stronger than the last. Max on Iago, Max bends down touches Iago's lips, his left hand at the back of Iago's head, pulling Iago to him, kisses him deeper. His right hand on the bed holding him up. Iago's fingers weave into Max's hair on the side of his head. The kiss breaks, Iago moves just under Max's chin, lips move down to Max's throat. Max moans, his eyes shut. Max missed those lips, his body knows them, can feel them. Max moves his head down, his lips meet Iago's. This isn't hunger or even a craving and its more than wanting or a need. Max lips leave Iago's, move to his neck, his lips taking in the warm, the heat from Iago's skin, the kisses grow bigger, deeper, reveling in how it feels, Iago's skin under his lips. This is lovers. Max pulls back. His eyes shut as he feels Iago's hands on his sides, feels them as they trail down, makes the electric jolt stronger. Max moans, "Iago". Bodies so close together no air can pass through. Max can feel it start in the center him and expand out, his mouth opening but no sound comes out. Time stops for Max. What he has missed, what he loved, what he still loves, feels it as he rolls over, his breath heaving. This time stronger in his mind, it was the time they had been apart. He feels the bed move, turns his head, Iago is on his side, propped up on his elbow. His gaze meets Max's. Max can't tear his eyes away from Iago's. Max's eyes marvel. Max feels like he is seeing all of Iago. Iago's eyes explore Max, he laughs, it feels a little strange to him, he has not laughed in a while. He has seen this look in Iago's eyes before. Iago is ready to go again. He feels Iago's body close to his, looks over when Iago's lips touch his. Max was barely done laughing, it feels good to him, like the part of him that has always been comfortable with Iago is coming out. He feels Iago's lips on his jaw, on his neck. There is a change in them. There are no words for how hungry they had been before, there is want in them now. Max's laughing is gone. Iago pulls back, Max turns his head, Iago's eyes burn as they look at Max. Iago comes forward, lips meet Max's. Max's lips eager, hungry for Iago's. Max's hand loops through the space between Iago and the bed, hand on the back of Iago's head as the kiss grows._

 _Max's eyes open slowly, sees the white hall his bed rests against. It's the same white wall he's opened his eyes to for four years. There isn't much he can do with his apartment, it is a little larger than his room had been at Beni's. And he doesn't have much, a chair next to the bed, a window inside a small space just off the bed, across from it is the bathroom. A small dining room table with a couple of chairs just inside the door, a fridge just beside the table with a stove on the other side of the fridge. He did his laundry in the basement of the building he lives in. Light pours in from the window. Max feels something as he starts to move his head. He sees a hand in front of his face. It's not his. Did he bring someone home last night? He doesn't remember bringing anyone home with him. It would be out of character for him if he did. He must have been really exhausted after work. He turns his head, braces himself for what he might see. He starts to see a body behind him. Holy crap, he had brought someone home. His eyes move up, whoever it was has an arm next to his. Eyes move up to a face, eyes open, calm look, almost a smile. Iago. His body has been tensed now feels relief. Thank God. He turns his head over, relief washes over him. Last night did happen. It wasn't dream. He felt Iago's lips on his neck, a slow kiss. Max's eyes shut for a second, feeling it. He lay there, takes the hand in front of his face in his. He watches as the fingers on the hand touch his, it is indescribable how Iago is here, how this is real. A smile plays on Max's lips as he tries to make what he is seeing, what he is feeling become reality in his mind. It has been so long. Max stares at the fingers. "What happened between you and Gonzalo?" He hadn't felt it was his place to ask about Gonzalo or Iago while he was in Barcelona. They seemed ok. Iago looked almost happy. He was glad Iago was happy, even crediting Gonzalo for it. Iago deserved it. He deserved whatever happiness came his way. "Things were ok when I started my sentence. He came to see me, we would talk for a couple of hours each week. It was about 3 months in when I started to feel different about it." Iago's fingers move with Max's as he spoke. Iago is quiet, reflecting. "I got to where I wasn't looking forward to them, I was dreading them." Max feels himself frown. Iago shouldn't dread someone he loves coming to see him. The thought, Max realizes had been Iago's at the time. "Gonzalo was happy to come but I wasn't happy seeing him there." Max frowns again. It sounds like how Iago was when Max had gone to see him during his two weeks in jail. Iago hadn't wanted to Max to come. But that wasn't the feeling Max got while Iago spoke. "I realized he wasn't the one I wanted to see sitting across from me." Iago's fingers tighten around his. He feels Iago's nose nudge his ear. Max smiles, his hand reaches back to Iago's head, touching his face, holding him in place, he feels like he is falling in love with Iago all over again. Max's hand slid away. "I ended things, told him I didn't want him coming back." He remembered those same words from Iago. Max has a feeling it was a different fight with Gonzalo than it had been with him. Max had been a harder fight, it had been harder for Iago to say the words, to push Max away given how much Iago missed him, how much Max had missed Iago. Even in jail Max made time for him. Max remembers him and Iago making time for each other._

 _"When did you graduate?" Max smiles. Iago had been wanting to ask since Max told him about work the night before. "A year after Clara's funeral." It had been hard. Remembering going back, seeing Iago again after a year. He'd wanted another way to remember it, the day itself. He marked the day as he graduated thinking two things, he had finally done it and Iago would be proud of him. The day didn't feel as heavy to him after that. "Can you get the wallet out of my pants pocket?" He leans up so Iago can use his arm. Their jeans in a pile by the bed. Their shirts on the other side of the room. Iago finds Max's jeans. Pulls a square out of the back pocket. Iago drops the jeans, hands the square to Max. Max lays back, opening the flaps. There are two sections on either side, Max doesn't carry too many credit cards with him. He keeps some cash on hand. His fingers dig at the second slot on the right side. His fingers produce a small picture. He hands it to Iago. It is a picture of Max with a middle aged man. "That's John, one of the doctor's here." Max looks at the picture, out of the hundred times he's looked at it himself. Max had been the only one. John admired his dedication. The hours Max spent in his books, the countless nights studying. Max had wanted it since he could remember. Iago lowers his hand, hands the picture back. "I sent Beni a copy." There is a heaviness in his words. Iago hears it, looks at Max as he takes the picture back. Iago had not known about it. Beni never mentioned it to him. Beni knew him and Iago had not spoken. He knew that's how Max had wanted it, so had Iago. Beni didn't tell Iago about Max when he went to see him. What few times Max did talk to Beni he didn't talk about Iago, it wasn't that it was too hard, there was no reason too. They all knew what the situation was. Both Beni and Max knew how much Iago had wanted to see Max graduate, how much he had wanted to be there, to bring it up would just be the reminder of what he would be missing and Max didn't want to do that to him. Max stuffed the picture back in his wallet. He kept it with him, he didn't share it a lot, although most everyone here knew. He kept his personal life to himself. Everything he had left behind stayed there. The other doctors at work knew he came from Barcelona but he didn't give many other details. He knew they would see him at a table by himself eating or doing paperwork and catch him staring off. When they did they teased him about thinking of a girl back home. He would just shake his head and say no such luck. He would go back to what he was doing but see Iago's face. He had left his heart in Barcelona, what he had left was his drive, his need to keep moving._

 _He lays back on his arm, he looks at Iago. Remembering the night before. The shock of seeing him in the chair. He had thought at first he was a robber. He smiles now at the thought. He had not been there that long but long enough to see the place, see what Max had been doing. He knew Iago must have wondered about him. Iago leans on his arm, looks at Max, eyes move over him. The look is familiar. One he remembers from years ago. Max knows how he looks now is a change, he looked similar when he went back for Clara's funeral. It wasn't the look of shock for how Max looks. He is studying Max, like he had done a thousand times before. His face calm like it had been then. Max remembers the bag he saw last night. Iago isn't just here for a visit. Max's breath caught a little at the thought of Iago living here. It had been a goal of theirs, before he left the first time. With Iago going to jail and Max going back to Mozambique and living with the possibility he would never see Iago again the thought of living together had been a thought that wasn't meant for them. But having Iago here now, it was a possibility again. That thought settles into Max, feels it deep in himself. Max has a question for Iago. It is hard for him to think of asking. Iago's life hadn't been his business for so long. But what he does remember is they had always been honest with each other._

 _"How did you get a ticket to come here?" Max feels small for asking. He had hoped it wasn't Iago's old connections. Nothing good could come from getting money from them. Not without a price. He had cleared his debts with Radovan and with Jota. He wouldn't be able to get money from them after just having gotten out of jail. Too big of a risk of going back if he got caught. Iago's eyes aren't focused anymore, they are down. Either he doesn't want to say because he knows Max wouldn't approve or he is fighting the same instinct Max had been. "Beni." He states. Max feels a frown grow on his face. It is an answer Max wasn't expecting. Beni? Max leans up on his elbows as Iago sits up. Max knew Iago and Beni had become close in the year they lived together while he was away. Max had talked to Beni after the funeral, how he talked about Iago was how he looked when he talked to Max. He was talking about a son. "I made a deal with him." The frown stays on Max's face. Iago made a deal with Beni? This isn't making sense. Max sits up. "When I heard I was being sentenced for 3 years, time stopped. I was in complete shock." Max had felt the same when he had heard the news. "I needed to get what I had in order so I decided to talk to Beni. He said you were out. You went to see K." Max remembers, he was getting ready to leave town. She was in town at the same time he was. "He said he would box up my clothes and keep them for me." Max felt a sadness as Iago said it. It felt as if Iago was dying and making final preparations for it. "Beni didn't like the sentence. He thought maybe you could help figure something out." Iago went silent. He had told Beni no. Max was going to be leaving for his life in Mozambique and Iago didn't want to disrupt that. "I told him I would serve the 3 years if he could help me when I got out." Max doesn't understand. "Max, do you remember the night we hugged?" Max smiles a little. Iago had been making deliveries. Iago took the smile as a yes. "The day I was sentenced made one thing clear to me." His face turns, eyes on Max. "I was still in love with you."_

 _Max felt a warmth inside as Iago said it. "I told Beni I would serve the time if he could give me some cash when I got out." Max is frowning. Iago had said the cash for the ticket had come from Beni. But wait a minute. "You would rather have gone to jail than let me help you?" Max feels hurt. Iago chose jail than the possibility of letting Max try. If there was one person he would help, one person he would step in for, it was Iago. "Max, I had caused you enough pain, enough grief when the neighborhood found out we were together." Max shook his head, that point didn't stand. "Iago, everyone knew you, knew you had changed. You weren't the same person." Iago looks away from Max with a smile on his face. Max was always defending him, even now. It was what always surprised Iago, the lengths Max would go to show his support, show Iago he loved him. "Max, helping me in whatever way would have gotten you in trouble. I'm not talking about a slap on the wrist or a warning. It would have been serious trouble." Max frowns not understanding something. "So why go to Beni?" Iago smiles slightly. "It wouldn't be traced back to you. And if it was cash it couldn't be traced back to Beni either." Max remembers their need to protect each other. It was a hard habit to break, Iago and Max were over but the need to protect Max was still there. Max was slowly trying to put this together. The world Iago had lived in was still unknown to Max. He'd had little to do with it, what he did have to do with it he would never do again but he did it for Iago._

 _"Why make this deal?" It was another part he doesn't understand. "Max, if I had asked you to help, there was a chance you would have stayed." He wasn't wrong. "Iago, if I had stayed it would have been my choice." It wasn't the only reason. If Iago had told Max, there's a chance Max would have talked Iago out of it. Iago would have let his feelings for Max take over. Iago shook his head again. Max had felt what Iago did that night. Max realized why Iago didn't ask him. If Iago had said yes to Max's help it would be a chance for him to be close to Max again. It would lead to Max canceling his trip back to be there with Iago. How Iago felt would have made him cave to Max's help. What Iago had said last night. You have a life here. He didn't want to mess things up for Max. The look Max had seen when they were taking Iago away. "You broke up with Gonzalo because of me." The statement stuns him as he says it. Max stops breathing, stops moving as that reality hit. He lay on his back exasperated, covers his face. He had done what he had promised himself he wouldn't when he had gotten to Barcelona. He wouldn't interfere; he wouldn't come between the life Iago had made for himself. He wouldn't come between Iago and Gonzalo. But he had the night they hugged. It made Iago realize what his feelings were. Iago couldn't keep seeing Gonzalo, he couldn't lead Gonzalo on knowing how he still felt about Max. Max shook his head. He removes his hands. "Iago you would have had someone to come see you, come talk to you." Max remembers what Iago had been like last jail stay, he was trying to hold it together, show Max he wasn't suffering but he was. He even went as far as to tell Max not to come anymore because he didn't want Max wasting his life. Max sits up. "This wasn't a two week sentence, Iago, it was three years." A point Iago had been well aware of. "Max, I saw the sacrifice you made for me going up against Clara, Beni, the people we came across on the street when we were first together and when I was in jail but you did it because you loved me. I didn't care if it was 3 years or ten. Max, those two weeks, I didn't see how I was worthy of a sacrifice like that."_

 _Iago is silent. He had felt like the world was against him, looking back at how it had felt for him. "Iago." Max protests, his hand on Iago's face. Iago closes his eyes. Max hated how he had punished himself then. His mother had just died, he was in jail. Max had not been able to be there for him, not like he had wanted to be. Iago's eyes open, he moves his head back to Max. "I knew what it meant the night I talked to Beni. I needed to. I'd had one feeling, one thought as I was there that night. He's it for me." Max stops breathing. Did Iago just? "I went in there seeing this sentence in front of me thinking it was three years away from you." Max had already been away from him for a year. To see these three years, it must have felt like an endless ocean of time. "I remembered what you had done for me." Iago takes hold of Max's hand. "Serving three years was my sacrifice for you."_

 _Max is beyond stunned. Shock had all but paralyzes his body. The look Max had seen in Iago's eyes as Iago was being taken away, it was love. What he was doing for Max. No one had ever done that for him before. It was Iago proving to Max, to himself how much he loved Max. Max looks at him. He'd had nothing to prove. He never did. Max knew Iago loved him even when they were first together. Iago had done more for him in a month than Enric did in the year and a half they were together. He didn't just love Max but he's in love with him. Enric thought he knew what love was. He thought he loved Max when in reality he had no idea. Love was when two people, two partners love each other, who see each other as equals, who are willing to do anything for the other, show they love each other. It is hitting Max, he has been Iago's goal, Iago's dream since the beginning. He thought it had been hard to breath before. "Max," Iago turns to him, takes hold of Max's. Max barely feels it. He looks down at it. Slowly looks back at Iago._

 _"If you want, I will be with you forever."_

 _Max's shock grows thicker. He had said those words before. When they had broken up and Max was helping him at Can Sarro. Iago was telling Max then he still wanted him. It had been hard for Max to hear the words, hear how Iago felt when things with them had been broken and considering Max was fighting how much he was hurting and despite the hurt the feelings he had for Iago. This feels oddly like a proposal. Probably because it is. Iago isn't proposing marriage, although it feels awfully close. He is proposing to spend his life with Max. Proposing to spend their lives together, if Max would have him. The thought, the plan of them living together is in front of him again. Max's mind is still stalled out from finding out what Iago had done for him. But if Max thought about it, Iago had been it for him for a long time. Before he came to Mozambique. Despite the distance between them, even in Mozambique there was only one for him. He had wondered a minute ago if he knew what it felt like, the kind of love Iago is talking about. What he had put on the line for Max? Max knows because it's what put his body in shock. He had felt Iago's love for him because he is as in love with Iago as Iago is in love him. Max lets go of Iago's hand, leans forward, his lips meeting Iago's, his hands on Iago's face and neck. He feels surprise in Iago. He was not expecting this. His lips moving with Max's. His hands touch Max's face. Iago pulls back. A question in his eyes. "That's a yes?" His hands on Max's waist. Max smiles, shakes his head a little. Iago leans in, his lips touch Max's. Iago pulls Max to him, the kiss slow, sensual, in love. Iago's arm around Max's back. Moving to the center of the bed, Max's back finding the sheets. Iago's hands on either side of Max face. Iago pulls back. Iago bit his lip while he looks Max over. Max doesn't know what Iago would do here for work, but Iago is good at adapting when it comes to work. Max can see if there was a job at the hospital. They had never worked in the same place before, he knew it didn't matter as long as they were together. Iago bent down to Max's lips, Max's hands on the sides of his face. Iago's hand on Max's side trailing it down, Max's lips became more hungry as he feels Iago's hand on him as it curved to his hip, down his thigh, hooks at his knee, wraps it around him. Max thinks for a second him and Iago should eat something. Max's hands on Iago's neck, moves along his neck into his hair as Iago moves to Max's neck, the kisses on his neck are full, deep, not a want, a need. Max's eyes close for a second before he opens them, leaning up his lips touch just under Iago's jaw, along the side of his neck, slow kisses. His lips have made it under Iago's ear, Max places his lips on the skin on Iago's lower ear, they don't close all the way around, his teeth close around the skin, grazing it as his teeth slide down. He hears Iago moan, he has both hands on the bed to support himself. He's driving Iago crazy. Max pulls back, Iago's lips find his, his hand moves to the back of Max's head. This is not going away._

 _The two weeks in jail, Max and Iago had had an insatiable appetite for each other, deliriously insatiable. This was for 4 years. Iago pulls back. His eyes, burn but more than that they are alight. He wants this, he wants Max so badly. Max feels Iago push passed his entrance, Max feels the pleasure as it goes through his body. He gasps. Iago leans down to Max's lips as Iago's body and his start to move. Max's hands explore Iago's chest, fingers find his nipples. His fingers move the skin slowly, Iago moans into the kiss. Max's fingers move to Iago's neck. Max breaks the kiss. The pleasure Max felt, it was telling him something. Max had let Iago in the night at the kiosk but Iago had let Max in, had let him open himself up. In that moment Max's body registered it, it was Iago's soul. It was why Iago could trust Max, it was why he was able to get through to Iago, why sometimes he knew what Iago was thinking, why when Iago looked at him he could feel it down to his bones, it why he fell in love with him, it was why he knew him, why he told Iago things he had never told anyone. Iago is his soulmate. Did Iago know? How he looked after their night in the kiosk, his persistence when he was with Enric, as far as Iago was concerned Enric didn't exist, when Iago met him at the alley, when he met him at the park even though he was hiding from the cops. He knew. He knew early on, he had accepted it. He had never had a lover before Iago. Iago knew how to touch him, what to say, what to do. It was why he made a deal with Beni, why he spent 3 years in jail, it was why Max volunteered to help Iago steal the jewelry and everything that followed after. Iago's lips hover over Max's, Max feels something deeper, it is Iago, Max moans, his head moves back, his eyes almost shut as he feels Iago's lips on his throat, even the first kiss, his soul was telling him something Max didn't know. Somewhere in all the fights before it there was an attraction. Max had been able to follow Iago's thinking even after 4 years, when he was thinking the night before about not knowing if he knew how to be with Iago, it was something he never lost, being around Iago, being with him was never something he had to think about, it came naturally, it is as natural to Max as it is to Iago. It was why max had found it hard to believe he could love someone so much and somehow love him more and it was the same for Iago. It's what got Iago through those 3 years, why he told Max he wants to spend his life with him, he knew him and Max are meant for each other._

 _"Max" Iago moans, he looks in Iago's eyes, its starting for him, Max can feel it starting for himself. "Iago" Max moans as he feels it in the center of himself. In this moment, him and Iago are sealing their commitment to each other, Max can feel it as washes over him, a moan escaping as it does. The life him and Iago had been thinking about in Barcelona was in front of them. Max could see it, the life he had seen for himself now had Iago in it. He cannot think of anything better as he rolls over, eyes on Iago._

 _Iago's dream becoming a reality._


End file.
